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Blog

Art meets science in 800 Series Diamond

You won’t find many straight lines in nature. For good reason: continuous, curving surfaces create stronger structures with the same amount of material. In all the models in the 800 Series Diamond, the curving cabinet forms a solid outer shell that shrugs off vibrations and resonance, both of which are harmful to high-quality acoustic performance.

The cabinets are produced at our dedicated cabinet-making factory in Worthing, in the UK. Here state-of-the-art technology is fused with traditional craftsmanship, to produce a cabinet that is both acoustically sound, and incredibly durable, but one that is also a beautiful piece of furniture.

As the video shows, creating these curved cabinets is not an easy task. Immense pressure is placed on a carefully placed 35mm thick sheet of ply to bend it into shape. As well as the pressure, microwave energy is generated to facilitate the bending process. This would prove fatal to anybody holding onto the conductors during the process, and a light on the press is powered by this energy, to warn factory staff that bending is in process.

After the bending has been completed, the newly curved cabinet is removed from the press and left to stand with braces in place. This is necessary because otherwise the wood will continue to bend, even after it is removed from the press. After about a day, the cabinet stops attempting to bend, and slackens off very slightly, which is when we can start working on it again.

The next step is to add an internal Matrix system. This braces the structure like the ribs of a ship’s hull, and you have a speaker that’s more than capable of standing firm under pressure.

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